Actuating mechanism for coffee-mills



(No Model.)

J. B. PRBM. AOTUATING MECHANISM FOR COFFEE MILLS No. 564,606. Patented July 28, 1896.

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UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFICE.

JOHN B. FREM, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

ACTUATlNG MECHANISM FOR COFFEE-MILLS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 564,606, dated July 28, 1896.

Application filed January 9,1896. Serial No. 574,919. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN B. FREM, of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Actuating Mechanisms for Ooifee-Mills, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in devices for actuating or imparting the necessary rotative force tohand-power cofiee-mills of that class usually employed by grocers and other retail tradesmen for grinding coifee or the like in small quantities of one or more pounds to suit the immediate requirements of individual customers.

The object of the invention is to provide coffee-mills of this character with an actuating mechanism sufiicieutly powerful and effective to enable the tradesman to impart in a few seconds such a high velocity to the mill that the momentum stored up in the balancewheels, &c., will suflEice to grind the quantity of coffee desired without further exertion or attention on his part.

The invention consists in the matters herein set forth and particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a sectional side elevation of a mill provided with an actuating device constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a fragmentary front elevation thereof with parts in section. Fig. 3 is a detail side elevation showing the strap or brace applied to the main bearing. Fig. 4. is a sectional detail of the counter-shaft and clutch. Fig. 5 is a detail of the inner end of the actuating-lever.

In said drawings, A designates the hopper of the mill, and A the grinding-chamber beneath said hopper. Said grinding-chamber is merged atits lower end into a narrow neck A through which the ground material is discharged into a removable receptacle or drawer B. The latter is located within a rectangular framework or compartment formed in the upper portion of the supporting frame or standard A upon which the mill is mounted, and the top wall of said compartment is formed by a horizontal plate a, provided at the lower end of the neck A and serving to directly sustain the latter, said plate a being secured to the framework A by bolts'a.

G designates the main shaft, which is mounted in bearings a that project on both sides of the grinding chamber A. Said shaft passes transversely through the grindingchamber and supports the burs or grinders therein, and the shaft is furthermore provided at its outer'ends with balance or fly wheels 0.

The features of construction thus far described are such as ordinarily characterize coffee-mills of the type under consideration and in themselves constitute no portion of my present improvement.

D designates a short counter-shaft mounted in suitable bearings e in a bracket E, which is adaptedto be bolted to the framework of the mill. The outer end of the shaft D extends to within a short distance of the adjacent fly-wheel C and is provided with a rigidly-attached gear D. The latter is arranged to intermesh with a pinion G which is secured on the main shaft 0 on the inner side of said fly-wheel C and between the same and the adjacent bearing M.

F is an actuating-lever mounted to oscillate about the counter-shaft D and connected therewith bya ratchet or friction-c1utch consame is oscillated in the opposite direction.

As herein shown, this actionis accomplished by a friction-clutch G, which may conveniently consist of an outer cone g, fixed to the shaft, an inner cone 9, loose thereon, and a loose sleeve g having laterally-inclined or cam surfaces g", which engage similar surfaces on the inner cone g. The lever F in this case is bifurcated to embrace the loose sleeve g and is clamped in place thereon by D and pinion C to the main shaft 0 ofthe mill. When, however, the lever is held stationary or is swung upwardly on the shaft,the wedging action of the cam-surfaces g is relieved and the cones g and g are released from each other, thereby unlocking the lever from the shaft and permitting the latter to continue its rotation while the lever remains at rest or is lifted for a succeeding stroke. The gear D is made much larger than the pinion C and the speed of the main shaft 0 is consequently greatly multiplied thereby. By giving a succession of powerful strokes to the lever F a high velocity may therefore be readily imparted to the main-shaft, and the resulting momentum stored up in the balance-wheels C will then sufiice to complete the operation of grinding a considerable quantity of coffee previously placed in the mill without further attention or exertion on the part of the operator, The exact proportions of the gearing may be varied as deemed convenient or desirable, but in practice I have found that satisfactory results are obtained by making the gear D about four times the size of the pinion C The actuating mechanism thus described is desirably made in the form of a separate attachment capable of being easily applied to an ordinary con'ee-mill without requiring the employment of skilled labor. To this end, the bracket E is shown as provided with a base-plate E, which is adapted to rest upon one side of the horizontal plate a of the mill, when the latter is of the usual construction herein described. Said bracket is conveniently secured in place by means of bolts 6, inserted in place of the bolts a, which are normally used to secure the frame together at this point. As a further improvement the bolts 6 constitute the lower ends of a strap or brace E, which passes over the superjacent bearing a of the main shaft 0. Nuts 6 on the ends of said strap below the plate to enable the strap to be drawn down firmly upon the bearing a and similar nuts 6 and check-nuts 6 provided on the ends of said strap above the base-plate E, then enable the latter to be clamped firmly down upon said plate a. A considerable adjustment of the strap E is provided by having its screwthreaded ends e of ample length to permit a considerable movement of the nuts 6 e and e, and the bracket E is made adjustable horizontally on the frame, to insure the exact intermeshing of the gears, by providing elongated slots 6 in the base-plate E for the passage of the strap ends '6. The strap E obviously affords a direct-resistance to the lifting action on the adjacent end of the main shaft 0, caused by the upper pressure of the gear D on the pinion 0 when the lever F is forced downward. Such upward pressure is liable to be quite severe, since it is easy for the operator to throw almost his entire Weight on the ends of the lever F, which latter is made of considerable length, and in r with said pinion.

the absence of the strap E or an equivalent strengthening device, the mill is liable to be broken thereby at its weakest point, which in the ordinary construction would be in the neck A The presence of the strap E however, does away with all liability of rupture from this cause.

An actuating device of the construction thus described may obviously be applied to any ordinary mill by simply securing the pinion 0 on the main shaft and then bolting the .bracket E to the frame in the manner described, so as to bring the gear D into mesh Having thus provided his mill with this attachment, the tradesman will thereafter be enabled to place a quantity of coffee, as, for example, apound, in the hopper, operate the lever F vigorously for a few m0- ments to impart a high rotative velocity to the main shaft and fly-wheels, and then leave the machine to attend to his other duties, knowing that the momentum stored up in said rotative parts will be suflicient to complete the grinding action without further attention on his part. Aside from this advantage, moreover, my improved actuating'rhechanism will enable the operator to apply his efforts with much greater efiiciency' than is possible with the common device of a handle on one of the fly-wheels, and will serve to greatly lessen the fatigue of the ordinary grinding operation.

It will of course be understood that any other suitable device than the friction-clutch herein described may be substituted therefor with substantially the same result, and that such ratchet or clutch mechanism may be inserted at any other point in the gearing than between the lever and counter-shaft, if found desirable. All such and similar obvions' modifications are evidently within the scope of my invention and will be understood as inclnded within the spirit of the appended claims;

I claim as my invention I 1. An actuating mechanism for cofieeqnills, comprising a horizontal counter-shaft supported on the mill-frame, gearing between said counter-shaft and the .main' shaft, any wheel or wheels on the main shaft, an actuating-lever mounted to oscillate up and down about said counter-shaft, and a ratchet or clutch device between said lever and counter shaft, so arranged that a downward movement of the lever engages the clutch and effects a continuing rotary movement in the main shaft independently of said lever, substantially as described. 1 p

2. An actuating mechanism forcoifee-Inills comprising a bracket adj ustably bolted to the I frame of the mill, a counter-shaft journaled in said bracket, a gear on said shaft intermeshing with the pinion on the main shaft, an actuating-lever mounted to oscillate about said counter-shaft and a clutch inserted between said counter-shaft and lever.

3. The combination with acoifee-mill provided with a supporting-frame and grindingchamber extending upwardly from said frame and a main shaft journaled in bearings proj ecting laterally from said grinding-chamber, of a bracket secured upon said supportingframe, a strap extending upwardly from said bracket around the superjacent bearing of the main shaft, a counter-shaft journaled in said bracket, gearing between the countershaft and main shaft and an oscillatory lever applied to the counter-shaft with an intervening ratchet or clutch device for imparting a continuous rotary movement to the main shaft, substantially as described.

4. The combination with a coffee-mill provided with a supporting-frame, a grindingchamber extending upwardly from said frame and a main shaft journaled in bearings proj ecting laterally from the grinding-chamber,

ment to the main shaft, substantially as de- 30 scribed.

JOHN B. FREM.

Witnesses:

HENRY W. CARTER, E. P. JOHNSON. 

